Web services are becoming an integral part of many application servers, with an importance that can rival HTTP or RMI stacks. Java standards for web services are being developed through the Java Community Process. Businesses are building important applications on top of web services infrastructures, such as is available in WebLogic Server from BEA Systems of San Jose, Calif.
Web services are a type of service that can be shared by and used as components of distributed Web-based applications. They commonly interface with existing back-end applications, such as customer relationship management systems, order-processing systems, and so on.
Traditionally, software application architecture tended to fall into two categories: huge monolithic systems running on mainframes or client-server applications running on desktops. Although these architectures work well for the purpose the applications were built to address, they are closed and can not be easily accessed by the diverse users of the Web.
Thus the software industry is evolving toward loosely coupled service-oriented applications that dynamically interact over the Web. The applications break down the larger software system into smaller modular components, or shared services. These services can reside on different computers and can be implemented by vastly different technologies, but they are packaged and transported using standard Web protocols, such as XML and HTTP, thus making them easily accessible by any user on the Web.
Presently however, there is no complete implementation of Web services upon which to build.